Two other members, Carole MacPhee, the retired director of the Columbia Housing Corp., which operates hundreds of subsidized homes, and Maurice Simpkins supported the plan.
"I really agree with what you're doing," MacPhee said, asking how people who report no income can buy food or get around the county. Since the county doesn't have to adhere to federal accountability rules, the commission has no effective way of checking residents' income claims, she said.
"There's no incentive for families to have a motivation to move up," MacPhee said.
The vote marks the second attempt in two years to change the way rents are calculated at Hilltop, built by the county entirely with local money. The complex was owned directly by the county until last year, when it was sold to the Housing Commission, which operates it.
In May 2008, Spann tried to get nearly the same rent change approved by the county's Housing and Community Development Board, before the commission took over, but he backed off after similar objections were raised. The commission is redeveloping Guilford Gardens, a 100-unit public housing complex built in 1980 on Oakland Mills Road, into a mixed-income, upscale community.
Carbo said redevelopment is the eventual aim for Hilltop, too, but he doesn't expect that to happen for years.
